Sharjah is the fourth largest of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is the only one to have land on both the Persian Gulf Coast and the Gulf of Oman. Sharjah is also next to Dubai and is effectively its suburb, with commuter traffic creating rush hour traffic jams. Expatriates generally live in Sharjah and work in Dubai because cost of living is cheaper in Sharjah, but better jobs are in Dubai.
However, the emirate is considerably larger than Dubai with coastline on both West and East coast of the peninsula, with exclaves of Kalba, Khor Fakkan, and Dibba Al Hisn. The road to the east coast goes through rugged Al Hajar mountains. Public buildings in the Emirate were all designed by the present Shaikh (a qualified architect), a nice visual change from the usual fare of skyscrapers in other Emirates.
The Sharjah Commerce and Tourism website[19] has sections on business, heritage, leisure, education, and coast.
